Coco Gauff pateko į potencialų „French Open“ ketvirtfinalį su 1-uoju pasaulio čempionu

Coco Gauff is the biggest star in American tennis so perhaps it is fitting that she is the last American man or woman standing at the French Open.

Gauff, 19, advanced to her second straight quarterfinal by defeating Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, 7-5, 6-2 on Monday.

The No. 6 seed blew a set point in the first set at 5-2 and dropped three straight games, but rallied to win the set and then took the second in straightforward fashion, taking the match on a service winner.

Next up for Gauff could be a rematch with world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who routed Gauff in last year’s final, 6-1, 6-3, for her second Roland Garros and second major title. Swiatek went on to win the U.S. Open last fall for her third major.

Swiatek was set to face Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko in the fourth round later Monday.

Gauff has now won her last 37 matches against players outside the top 50 – her last loss coming at the 2022 Australian Open against Wang Qiang.

In the first set, Gauff rebounded in the closing moments from 5-5, 30-30 on the Schmiedlova serve to win the last six points.

She also won the last five games of the match, improving her head-to-head record against Schmiedlova to 2-0.

Gauff remains alive in doubles with her partner, Jessica Pegula, the top-ranked American woman in singles who is out of the singles draw.

“I think I might have doubles tomorrow,” Gauff said. “I don’t need any days off, so I’m going to play doubles tomorrow. I’ve been playing card games a lot and eating croissants.

“The other day I was eating breakfast and I had a chocolate cake thing, and my agent was like, ‘Why are you eating chocolate cake for breakfast?’ And was like, ‘We’re in Paris, who cares?’”